Scope and Content

The collection consists of letters, financial records, and telegrams, which give a unique insight into the day-to-day running of the company, its expenditure, income, administration, management structure and back-up services as well as much personal and social information. While Diaghilev's Ballets Russes as an artistic and dance phenomenon has been extensively researched, the Ekstrom collection increases understanding of how Diaghilev's Ballets Russes operated on a daily basis

Administrative / Biographical History

Diaghilev's Ballets Russes was the single most revolutionary force in 20th century ballet, creating out of the conservative classical ballet of the 19th century a new, vibrant art form in which dance, design and music fused into an indissoluble whole, capable of expressing the whole range of human emotion and creating a new public for dance which continued to grow long after the company disbanded after Diaghilev's death in 1929.

Formed to present abroad the 'revolutionary' ballets of Michel Fokine, which could find no place in the conservative Imperial Theatres of early 20th century Russia, Diaghilev's Ballets Russes first appeared in Paris in 1909. Almost overnight ballet as an art was reborn in Europe, the one- act ballet became established as the new form, the male dancer was restored to star status after a century of neglect. The dancers, Karsavina, Nijinsky, became household names and the designers, Bakst, Roerich and Benois the rage of Paris.

Subsequent seasons revealed Fokine's astonishing versatility and the range and variety of expression available to classically trained dancers - classic Romantic works ( Les Sylphides, Carnaval, Le Spectre de la rose) exotic dramas ( Cleopatre, Thamar) ballets based on Russian folk themes ( The Firebird, Petrouchka) or Greek classical themes ( Narcisse, Daphnis and Chloe). In place of the easy tuneful scores hitherto used for ballet, Diaghilev commissioned scores from Stravinsky, Ravel and Debussy, while Bakst's erotic, flamboyant designs spilled out from the stage into fashion and interior design.

In 1911 Diaghilev broke with Russia and formed his own company around the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky. In 1912 Diaghilev began to develop Nijinsky as choreographer; his ballets Le Sacre du Printemps, L'aprés midi d'un faune and Jeux created scandalous furores. Diaghilev, already showing signs of the low boredom threshold that was to drive him ever onwards towards the new and the novel, was increasingly to capitalise on sensationalism and novelty to keep the interest of the comparatively small avant-garde society on whom he depended for his audience and his backers.

By 1914 Fokine had left and Nijinsky had been dismissed from the company. Diaghilev selected the teenage Leonide Massine as their successor. The Russian revolution of 1917 cut the company off from its Russian roots and it became more cosmopolitan in dancers and subject matter. The shorter experimental ballets suited a company trained in many different schools and styles and Massine turned to Europe for inspiration. Ballet now embraced Spanish folklore in Le Tricorne, Italian comedy in Les femmes de bonne humeur as well as reflecting cubism and the musical avant-garde in European art in Parade. From this time Diaghilev sought out the young European designers and composers, commissioning avant-garde painters such as Picasso, Braque, de Chirico and Rouault, and composers like Satie, de Falla and Poulenc.

After Massine's departure, Diaghilev, temporarily without a choreographer, attempted a sumptuous revival of Marius Petipa's classical masterpiece The Sleeping Beauty (as The Sleeping Princess), but it was an expensive failure. In the mid 1920s Diaghilev developed his policy of seeking for fashionable novelty, and Bronislava Nijinska's ballets, including Le train bleu and Les biches, reflect the preoccupations of his society audience. Alongside these came new masterpieces, notably Nijinska's Les Noces, which looked back to the peasant Russia that seemed to have been destroyed by the 1917 Revolution.

In 1926 Diaghilev found a new choreographer in George Balanchine. While his early works continued the policy of novelty, in Apollo Balanchine turned again to the basic principals of classical dance, reasserted in his own unique neoclassic style; meanwhile Prodigal Son saw a return to the dramatic ballet which had first established the company's reputation - a perfect synthesis of choreography music and design.

In 1929 Diaghilev died and his company, leaderless, dispersed throughout the Western world, spreading the gospel of the new ballet which he had helped to form and from which 20th century dance descends.

Arrangement

This collection is organised into eight series:

THM/7/1 - Correspondence

THM/7/2 - Telegrams

THM/7/3 - Contracts

THM/7/4 - Financial records

THM/7/5 - Programmes

THM/7/6 - Press cuttings

THM/7/7 - Exhibition catalogues

THM/7/8 - Miscellaneous

This reflects the order in which the collection was received.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is available for consultation in the V&A Department of Theatre and Performance's Reading Room, which is located at Blythe House, 23 Blythe Rd, Olympia, London, W14 0QX. The Reading Room is open Tuesday to Friday between 10.15 am and 4.30 pm. Access to it is by appointment only. To request an appointment please email tmenquiries@vam.ac.uk or telephone 020 7942 2698.

Access to some of these files may be restricted. These are identified at file level.

Conditions Governing Use

Archive material may not be photocopied. Arrangements can be made to photograph material in the reading room using non-flash photography.

Acquisition Information

The Ekstrom Collection was acquired with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund. The collection was purchased from Arne Ekstrom in 1996.

Custodial History

Parmenia Migel Ekstrom purchased the collection from Serge Grigoriev and later added to it at auction and from private dealers.

Related Material

Researchers should note that the Department of Theatre and Performance also houses a collection of Box Office Returns for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, which may provide additional information about the performances of the Ballets Russes in this theatre. See box office returns for Covent Garden for 22, 24 and 25 July 1929 filed under Covent Garden, July 1929 in the main Theatre Museum collection.

See also the core collections of the V&A Theatre and Performance Department. Material relating to the Ekstrom Collection may be found in several collections, including the biographical, productions, company and photographs files.

This collection of letters relates to the business arrangements of the company, but in addition there are many letters of a more personal nature, including letters received by Parmenia Ekstrom from Boris Kochno into the 1970s. The letters are mainly French, but do include some in English and Russian.

Arrangement

This series has been divided into four sub-series: general letters to and from Diaghilev and other persons relating to the Ballets Russes, correspondence between Diaghilev and his various agents relating to business, letters to and from Stravinsky, and the collection of letters from Boris Kochno to Parmenia Ekstrom written after the Ballets Russes ceased to operate.

Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. General correspondence

Reference Number(s)

GB 71 THM/7/1/1

Dates of Creation

1902-1962

Physical Description

22 files

Scope and Content

A collection of important letters by many writers, including Diaghilev himself, to many recipients, mostly written in connection with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and other cultural matters.

Arrangement

The correspondence has been arranged alphabetically by name of writer and then in chronological order under each writer's name. In cases where there is a run of letters with their replies, these have been left together and cross referenced to other letters from the same writer.

Correspondence Ansermet- Auric

Reference Number(s)

GB 71 THM/7/1/1/1

Dates of Creation

1917-1922

Physical Description

6 items

Copy of agreement between Ernest Ansermet and Serge Diaghilev engaging him as chef d'orchestra for the South American tour

Reference Number(s)

GB 71 THM/7/1/1/1/1

Dates of Creation

1917 July 2

Physical Description

1 page

Scope and Content

Former Reference number:00151

Letter from Ernest Ansermet to Serge Diaghilev

Reference Number(s)

GB 71 THM/7/1/1/1/2

Dates of Creation

1920 Oct 24

Physical Description

1 page

Scope and Content

Former Reference number:00165

Letter from Ernest Ansermet to Serge Diaghilev

Reference Number(s)

GB 71 THM/7/1/1/1/3

Dates of Creation

1920 Oct 26

Physical Description

1 page

Scope and Content

Former Reference number:00152

Letter from Ernest Ansermet to Misia Sert

Reference Number(s)

GB 71 THM/7/1/1/1/4

Dates of Creation

1920 Nov 16

Physical Description

3 pages

Scope and Content

Includes typed summary of the contents of the letter made at the time of its auction.

Former Reference number:00004

Letter from Ernest Ansermet to Misia Sert

Reference Number(s)

GB 71 THM/7/1/1/1/5

Dates of Creation

1920 Nov 30

Physical Description

1 page

Scope and Content

Former Reference number:00005

Letter from Georges Auric to Valentine Hugo (née Gross)

Reference Number(s)

GB 71 THM/7/1/1/1/6

Dates of Creation

1922 June 10

Physical Description

1 page with envelope

Scope and Content

Former Reference number:00006

Correspondence Leon Bakst - Jacques Emil Blanche

Reference Number(s)

GB 71 THM/1/1/2

Dates of Creation

1911-1928

Physical Description

8 items

Letter from Leon Bakst to Gabriel Astruc

Reference Number(s)

GB 71 THM/7/1/1/2/1

Dates of Creation

1911 Mar 15

Language of Material

French

Physical Description

1 page

Scope and Content

Former Reference number:00055

Letter from J M Barrie to Eric Wollheim

Reference Number(s)

GB 71 THM/7/1/1/2/2

Dates of Creation

1918-1937

Physical Description

1 page

Scope and Content

Former Reference number:00056

Letter from Thomas Beecham to Serge Diaghilev

Reference Number(s)

GB 71 THM/7/1/1/2/3

Dates of Creation

1928 June 26

Physical Description

2 pages

Scope and Content

Includes suggested list of pieces to be played as interludes in ' The gods go a-begging.'